


Unravel Me

by quietlycrash



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bungalow, Canon Compliant, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, M/M, OT5, OT5 Friendship, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Take Me Home Tour, The X Factor Era, Up All Night Tour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 11:01:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10695648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietlycrash/pseuds/quietlycrash
Summary: Liam flushes as he feels Zayn’s warm fingers wrapped around his skin, and he hopes Zayn can’t feel his heartbeat fluttering through his veins. Zayn pulls the cap of the Sharpie off with his teeth, and leaves the orange piece of plastic between his lips as he presses the tip of the pen to the opening of the maze. The pen feels strange and slightly cool against Liam’s skin and he sucks in a breath at the first touch.Or: Sometimes it takes time for soulmates to fit together they way they are meant to.





	Unravel Me

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this for so long that I have changed my mind entirely about soulmates. I think it's problematic as hell to classify relationships this way and I hate the way that this "romantic" ideology affects our culture and my life. I found this in my folder a few weeks ago and even though I hate the concept now, I thought some of you might enjoy it, so I finished it and I'm sharing it with you with the hopes that it can lend a little brightness into your life, even if it can't do so for me anymore.

~

When the band is put together, Liam can feel how perfectly they fit with each other. They stand as a group on stage, and Liam can feel all of their hearts beating in sync as Harry tells Simon that they want to take his offer. Liam doesn’t need more than that moment to convince him that this band is what he was always fated to do.

After the cameras stop rolling, the five of them pull each other into a group hug. Their warm breaths mingle in the middle of the circle, and they stand there just breathing for a moment.

“This is it boys, this is our chance.” Louis finally says.

Liam lets out a shaky breath and nods. He can feel a hand tighten on his left shoulder and he looks to his right. Zayn gives him a soft smile and Liam can feel something ignite inside him. That smile feels like the beginning of something, like a clock started counting in his soul. He lets the feeling tingle through him as he smiles and back and rests his head on Zayn’s shoulder.

~

The tattoos had started appearing on children in Liam’s grandmother’s generation. The tattoos showed up spontaneously, always at a different age with no apparent significance. Back then, only about half of the generation ended up with tattoos, but as time passed, the frequency increased until it was strange for people Liam’s age to grow up and not have a tattoo appear.

At the start of the phenomenon, it was often just a name written in simple black script. Sometimes it was a small drawing or a little picture, but those were far rarer back then. People seemed to know from the beginning what the marks meant. There were always skeptics who said it was just wishful thinking, but when everyone who had one ended up happy with the love of their life, the doubters faded away. Unfortunately, with them faded the obvious meanings of the marks.  

By Liam’s generation, the new tattoos that appeared were way more complicated. There were fewer names and dates, and more pictures and cryptic signals. Sometimes they were intricate designs, painted on the skin like a painting from the Louvre, and sometimes they were just a string of random letters that had to be decoded. Liam thought that both of those marks were better than his. At least they were reliable.

Liam’s mum had “Geoff” written on her wrist since she was nine years old, and his father had his mother’s initials since he was thirteen. They found each other at a grocery store, when they were both in line to buy cranberries on Christmas Eve. His mum had held up her bag sheepishly when he asked what she was shopping for so late before the holiday, and he noticed the tattoo on her wrist. He held up his own bag and grinned widely, showing off his own tattoo.

One of Liam’s older cousins had a key on her wrist, and her soulmate had the cogs of a lock that matched the key perfectly. His sisters, who were both older than him, each had a quote on their wrists. Ruth’s had turned out to be the first words that her soulmate spoke to her. Nicola didn’t know what hers were yet, but everyone suspected that they would be the same.

Liam’s tattoo was not as simple as his sisters, and he had resented this from the moment it appeared on his skin. The first day it had appeared, he had been mostly relieved that he had a soulmate after all. Neither he nor anybody else could figure out what it meant, but he didn’t care that day. It wasn’t until about a week later that he realized that the dark twisting maze on his wrist changed every night when he fell asleep.

His relief at not being different from his classmates for once had vanished. He feared peoples’ reactions if they discovered that his tattoo was mutable from his passing sleep cycles (or from the turning of the planet, even he wasn’t sure). When he auditioned for the X factor, he had vowed to keep his tattoo hidden for as long as possible. He wrapped bandages around it whenever there were cameras around.

“You boys will have to get to know each other very well in order for this to work.” Simon had said solemnly to him and the rest of the boys he was put into a group with, after the cameras were turned off and they were told the details of the break before the live shows.

Liam knew that this meant he would have to tell them about his tattoo, but he didn’t want to risk the future of the band by having them running for the hills once they found out they were in a band with a misfit. If they asked, he decided, he would tell them, but he wouldn’t be the first one to bring it up.

~

Surprisingly, they make it three days at the bungalow before anyone mentions the tattoos. Liam was hoping it would never come up, but considering the society they live in that’s a bit unreasonable. He was expecting it to be a late night conversation, though: one where everyone whispers their secrets and the words don’t seem as large against the blackness of the sky.

It’s the morning of the fourth day, and Liam is up first as usual. He’s in the kitchen drinking a glass of orange juice and toasting a couple pieces of wheat bread for breakfast. Harry’s parents stocked the kitchen with every kind of food imaginable and these massive glasses and plates, and Liam still forgets and pours himself too much juice. At home, his family had used the same tiny plastic cups for as long as Liam can remember. It makes him homesick to think about it, even though he knows it’s silly to miss cups.

He’s standing at the sink looking out of the window at the way the early morning sun flickers off the dewy leaves of the tree and the grass in front of the bungalow. This is Liam’s favorite time of day. The way the pale yellow and blue light of the morning dances around everything in sight makes the whole world look magical.

“Whatcha lookin’ at Liam?” He hears a sleepy voice ask behind him. He turns to face the table and sees Niall sitting there with his head resting on the wooden tabletop.

He shrugs. “It’s my favorite time of day. Everything looks beautiful right now.”

“That’s true. I prefer sunset though.” Niall says through a yawn, and jumps in his seat when Liam’s toast pops up.

Liam goes to take the toast out and hesitates. “Would you like a piece of toast?” He asks Niall.

“Seriously? Yeah man, that would be awesome!” Niall answers, sounding much more awake. Liam laughs and grabs another plate. He’s never known anyone who gets so excited about food. He spreads butter on both pieces of toast and brings them over to the table.

As he leans over to set the plate down in front of Niall, the sleeve of his long sleeve t shirt slips up and reveals a flash of the black lines underneath. Niall’s mouth drops open and he reaches over to grab Liam’s wrist. He pulls Liam’s shirt sleeve up to his elbow and stares at the maze there.

“Woah.” He says in an awed whisper. “That’s a sick tattoo! It looks so awesome on your wrist, like an actual artistic design! I’ve just got a name.” He drops Liam’s wrist and grins at him. He lifts his wrist and pulls his watch up so Liam can see the name written there. Niall doesn’t even have a fancy script or anything, just a simple name in Times New Roman or some other scholarly font, and Liam feels a sudden flash of searing jealousy. He stamps it down quickly though, and sits down across from Niall.

“I’ve got no idea what the message is though.” He tries to keep the bitterness out of his tone, and takes a bite of his toast to try to stop the conversation in its tracks.

“The message of what?” He hears a voice ask behind him through a yawn and he turns to see Harry standing in the doorway in just his pants. Liam tries not to blush, but he’s still not used to being so open with other guys. He quickly puts his arm under the table on top of his leg so that Harry can’t see it.

“Oh, we’re just talking about our tattoos.” Niall says brightly through a mouthful of toast. He seems to have devoured his piece of toast already, ruining Liam’s plan of stalling with food.

“Ah.” Harry says in response, and then ambles over to the cupboard. Liam sits in the stifling silence and stares at Niall, who looks perfectly comfortable. Liam is baffled how he does it, it’s only been three days and Niall already seems completely at home with all of them. Liam takes another bite of his toast and chews slowly while he tries to force himself to be less awkward. Harry opens a cupboard and grabs a glass, and then fills it with water from the sink before he sits down next to Niall.

“You’re not alone in that.” Harry says while staring into his cup.

“What?” Liam asks, and panics internally. Did he miss something? He hates talking to new people, it’s always so hard to follow the conversation. He taps his fingertips against his leg under the table, his mind racing back through the conversation so that he almost misses Harry explain himself.

“I’ve got no idea what mine means either.” Harry holds out his wrist to Liam, and Liam can see the numbers that look upside down to him. He thinks back on all the tattoos that he’s seen, but he can’t think of any useful clues. He squints down at Harry’s wrist and leans in so he can see it closer.

“Eiziiooososo.” He says seriously. When Harry finally meets his eyes, his eyes are comically wide and he looks so alarmed that Liam can’t help but snicker. As soon as Liam laughs, Harry’s frown dissolves.

“I was thinking, like, you know when you’re a kid and you type 58008 in your calculator because when you turn it upside down it looks like it says boobs? I was wondering if yours was a message upside down but it’s clearly not…” He grins sheepishly.

Niall barks out in laughter. “Not even close, mate!” His eyes are crinkled in mirth, but Liam doesn’t feel like Niall is laughing at him, so he lets it go and looks back at Harry.

Harry grins at him. He’s not looking at Liam like he’s worried about Liam’s sanity anymore, so Liam smiles back at him. “I hadn’t thought of that. That’s smart! Too bad it’s not right though.” He doesn’t look too upset, though. His eyes are sparkling at Liam and thinks that maybe he can do this after all.

He lifts his arm up and sets it on the table in front of Harry, and meets the younger boy’s gaze with a challenge in his eyes. Harry carefully pulls up Liam’s sleeve to see his tattoo, and Liam can hear a sharp intake of breath when Harry sees the maze.

“Wow. That’s really cool.” Harry says earnestly, and lets Liam pull his arm back into his lap.

“That’s what I said!” Niall says excitedly. Liam just shrugs and stares down at his hands.

“Maybe you’ll, like, meet your soulmate in a corn maze or something.” Harry suggests.

Liam takes a deep breath. This is his chance to tell the boys how his tattoo is different than most. His head starts to feel a little fuzzy with the rush of adrenaline. “I doubt it.” He says quietly.

“Why not?” Harry asks.

“Well,” Liam says, and then looks up at the two boys across from him. “My tattoo is a bit… unusual. The maze is different every day.”

“What?” Harry asks at the same time Niall says “No way!”

Liam nods and takes a sip of orange juice. His hands are shaking a bit. This is it. The band will either accept him now or kick him out like the weirdo he is. Everyone else he’s known has stopped talking to him after they found out, even his closest friends.

“How is that possible?” Harry asks, frowning slightly.

“Dunno. I just know it resets every night, and it’s different every day.” Liam still can’t meet their eyes. “I know most people find it weird.” He says, and fidgets when he can still feel them staring at him.

“Hey.” Niall says, and Liam is forced to look up at him. His blue eyes are wide and Liam can see something serious in them that wasn’t there before. “We don’t care if you’ve got a weird tattoo, it’s not going to stop us from being the best band in the whole world.” Liam huffs a laugh and looks over at Harry, who grins widely at him.

“We will be the best band in the whole world.” He raises his eyebrows at Liam, as if challenging him to deny it.

“Sounds good to me.” Liam says. They all sit there in comfortable silence for a minute. That’s what Liam thinks he likes best about those two, is that they can sit still and quiet for some time when they know that’s what will make people more comfortable. Louis gets loud after a while and Zayn gets antsy, and Liam thinks he loves them just as much, but in a different way.

They hear a loud thump a few minutes later, followed by some cursing and groaning which must mean that Louis is awake. Harry shouts at him to come in the kitchen and quit whining, and Liam hides a smile in his orange juice as Louis shouts back “I’ll do what I please Harold.”

“That’s not my name.” Harry sighs, but he doesn’t stop smiling. His smile feels almost contagious, and Liam feels a grin slip onto his own face.

Louis comes stomping in, and flops down onto Harry’s bare lap before chugging the rest of Harry’s water.

 “Hey.” Harry drags the word out and pouts his lower lip out as he looks up at Louis.

“Sorry, I just assumed that water was for me.” Louis doesn’t sound sorry at all as he smirks down at Harry.

Niall bursts into laughter and Louis grins smugly, the way he always does when he makes someone laugh. Harry rolls his eyes, but he keeps smiling. Liam’s fingers twitch when the conversation doesn’t continue automatically. Should he say something else?

“The floor is lava!” Louis shouts suddenly. Liam startles, but he doesn’t have time to process before Niall yanks him up to stand on the chair. He laughs in surprise, and the morning devolves into a game, leaving all thoughts of their tattoos behind.

~

Later in the week Harry, Niall, and Louis are trying to play three-person chicken in the pool while Liam and Zayn lie on the deck and watch the clouds.

“That one looks like a dog smoking a cigar.” Liam says over the sound of Niall’s shouts.

“Which one?”

“The one right above us. It’s kind of long, like a wiener dog or something.”

“Oh yeah, I see it.”

They’re silent for a few minutes while they wait for the clouds to change, and they listen to the screams coming from the pool. Liam pushes up to his elbows to see who is on whose shoulders now, but it looks like they’re trying to do a three-person tower now. They’re so stupid. He can’t stop himself from smiling at the sound of their laughter, though.

“When one of you falls and dies, I’m not calling 999” He yells at them, flopping back down.

“Fuck you, Liam!” He hears Niall yell and tenses before he hears the telltale cackle.

“Zayn will call 999 for us, won’t you Zayn?” Louis shouts before gargling, and Liam guesses that Harry just shoved his head under the water.

“Nah.” Zayn replies, but Liam can hear the smile in his voice even though they barely know each other. Liam smiles to himself. He thinks Zayn is probably his favorite of the boys, even though he knows it’s not smart to have favorites. It took him a couple days to realize it, but Zayn is just so funny and so easy to talk to, and Liam always feels comfortable around him.

He runs a hand through his fringe that he straightened that morning, pulling a couple tangles out with his fingers. As he tugs his hand sharply through a knot, his hand flies sideways and he bumps into Zayn’s head. He quickly withdraws his hand when he brushes against Zayn’s soft fringe.  

“Sorry.” Liam mutters. His face feels like it’s on fire, and he knows that he’s bright red. He’s just glad Zayn can’t see him. The other boys aren’t bothered by touching as much as he is, and he feels like a right twat about it.

Zayn just shakes his head and grabs Liam’s arm to point up at the cloud he just noticed. “Don’t worry about it. Look at that one, it looks just like a toilet.”

Liam laughs even though he’s still blushing. He wonders if he’ll ever get used to the constant contact with the others. “It totally does, that’s awesome.”

He closes his eyes then, and just relishes in the fact that he will get to spend quite a bit of time with these boys from now on, and that they’re only going to become closer as friends. He knows even now that they will still be friends no matter how far they get in the competition. He squeezes Zayn’s hand lightly where they’re still clasped together, and he smiles softly when he feels Zayn squeeze back.

~

They stand together in front of Simon in their shorts, waiting to hear if they got through. He can feel Zayn trembling next to him, and Louis is breathing shallowly to his left somewhere. They’re all touching each other somehow, and Liam feels like he can sense all of their heartbeats.

This moment in his life doesn’t seem like it is going to make or break him, which is silly. If they get through, his life will be changed completely. Still, he feels like his already been changed by meeting these boys. He knows they’re going to get through before they do, just by watching Simon’s eyes. There’s a smile hidden there, but Liam has to stop himself from smiling before Simon says it.

He tightens his grip on Zayn’s shoulder. This won’t be a beginning for them, because they already started. He’s already formed a bond with these boys and he’ll be damned if he’s letting them go now. He can feel his confident, steady heartbeat in contrast with the buzzing nervousness of the others’.

“I’ve gone with my heart, boys. You’re through.” Simon says, and Liam feels the five of them burst into shouts of happiness together. There are group hugs everywhere, and Liam can’t stop smiling. He knows that soulmates are real, but he also feels like fate made sure that he ended up together with these boys.

~

The night before the final, Liam can’t find any of his boys anywhere. He thinks he saw Harry run off toward the bathroom about an hour ago, looking a little green in the face. He doesn’t really want to go find Harry puking, and he’s sure Louis is already taking care of him anyways.

He peeks into the kitchen, expecting to find Niall stress-cooking there, but he only sees Matt sitting alone at the kitchen table. He nods to him, smiling distractedly.

“Do you want to join me? I made tacos.” Matt says, waving a hand at the stove where taco meat is still sitting in a pan.

“No thanks. I’m not hungry right now.” Liam says, still standing in the doorway.

“Yeah, I’m not really either, but I needed to do something.” Liam’s smile feels tight all of the sudden. He likes Matt well enough, but one of them is going to have to go home tomorrow. Or both of them, if Rebecca wins. Matt seems to notice, because he smiles knowingly at Liam and nods as if to dismiss him.

“I’m sorry Aiden left so early.” Liam blurts out for some reason. He cringes internally. What is he doing?

Matt raises his eyebrows and puts the taco he’s holding down onto his plate. “Why? It wasn’t your fault.”

“No, but he was your best friend in your house. I’m sorry that I couldn’t be a friend for you after he left.”

Matt smiles, and he seems to blush a little bit. Liam frowns in confusion. Did he say something embarrassing?

“If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell anyone else?” Matt says, and his face is so honest and trusting that Liam can’t help but nod.

“Me and Aiden have matching tattoos.” Matt says, his cheeks still faintly pink.

Liam feels his jaw drop open. “No way!” He says after a moment of silence, once it looked like Matt was starting to get uncomfortable. Matt shrugs a shoulder up, smiling a little bit to himself, and looking like he kind of regrets telling Liam.

“That’s amazing, Matt.” Liam says sincerely. He walks over to the table and awkwardly rests a hand on Matt’s shoulder. He’s still not quite used to being as tactile as the rest of his band. “I’m so happy for you.”

Matt grins widely again. “No matter what happens tomorrow or after, I feel like I already won.”

Liam feels his heart clench at that. He wants so badly to have that same feeling. He squeezes Matt’s shoulder and stands up again.

“I hope you have your happy ending soon, Matt.” Liam says.

Matt’s eyes are sparkling with something that Liam has only ever seen in people who have found their soulmates when he smiles at Liam again and nods.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess.” Liam turns to leave, suddenly feeling lonelier than he’s ever felt. He needs to find one of his boys.

He opens the sliding door to the back porch, where a ping pong table is set up, and he finds Niall perched on a lounge chair. He looks like he’s playing a card game on the table in front of him, flipping cards out quickly with shaking hands.

“Hi Niall.” Liam says quietly, trying not to startle him, but he jumps anyways and knocks a few cards off the table.

He turns to look at Liam with wild eyes, and Liam is reminded of the fox they had found trapped in his backyard when he was nine, jumpy and scared and unable to escape even though it had found its way in. Niall bends down to pick up the cards, and Liam sits on the chair next to him.

“What are you playing?” Liam asks once Niall has gathered all the cards together again. He watches Niall shuffle and pretends not to notice how shaky his hands are.

Niall starts to speak but has to clear his throat when his voice cracks. “Just solitaire. Do you want to play King’s in the Corner?”

“Sure.” Liam smiles gently at him.

They play a few rounds before the sun drops too low in the sky for them to be able to see the cards any more. Niall finally yawns so wide that Liam is almost afraid his jaw will crack. He smiles at Liam when he’s done. “Thanks, Payno. I think I should head off to bed now.”

“’Night Nialler.” Liam grins at him. He rests his head back against the lounge chair as the patio door closes with a soft thump behind Niall.

He gazes up at the sky and marvels for a moment at how each moment of their lives brought them here together. They’re so small in the universe, and he is so lucky to be here with his four boys. Liam gets so caught up in his nostalgia that he doesn’t hear the door open again until Zayn is standing before him, blocking out some of the stars in the sky.

“Hey.” Liam closes his eyes happily as he greets Zayn.

“Budge up.” Zayn nudges his side until Liam scoots over enough for Zayn to join him on the lounge chair. It’s not really meant to fit two people, so he’s sitting half on top of Liam, but his warmth is welcome in the rapidly cooling evening.

They sit silently together for a while, just listening to the other breath. Liam is about to doze off when Zayn whispers softly into the night.

“I think we’re going to win.” He keeps his eyes on the constellations, but Liam can tell that he wants a response.

Liam’s stomach twists in anxiety again. What if they don’t win? But Zayn is the one saying this, and Zayn is the one who always carries the most doubts. His heart soars as he realizes that Zayn must feel this connection between the five of them as well. Suddenly he knows that he and his four boys will be together no matter what. They were fated to meet, and they couldn’t be torn apart by something as trivial as a loss of a competition.

“Okay.” Liam replies. He smiles up at the stars. Zayn stands first and offers Liam a hand to help him up. His hand is soft and warm and Liam feels the inexplicable urge to trace each of the lines on Zayn’s palms. He’s grateful that the dark of the night disguises the faint blush in his cheeks. He follows Zayn back into the house and dares to hope for a future for all five of them.

~

They’re a week into The X Factor tour and Liam doesn’t want to say he’s bored, but, well, he’s bored. Harry and Louis are always running off trying to pull pranks on people or make some sort of mess, and Liam is exhausted. He doesn’t really feel excluded with them, he just doesn’t have as much fun as they do wreaking havoc.

He’s currently sitting on a brown leather couch in one of the green rooms, and Zayn is stretched out napping next to him. Niall is lying on the cement floor doing the newspaper’s daily crossword and Sudoku.

He sighs heavily, and sinks down so his chin is touching his chest and his limbs are sprawled everywhere. Niall flicks his eyes up to him for a moment before looking back down at his folded newspaper to scrawl an answer in.

“Bored?” He asks, pencil between his teeth.

“As always.” Liam says. “I didn’t anticipate this much free time.” He hears Zayn start to shift around next to him, and his heart beats a little harder in his chest. He’s just excited is all, it’s always more fun when Zayn is awake to talk to.

Zayn clears his throat before he speaks, the “good morning” coming out of his mouth before he even opens his eyes. Liam smiles and reaches down to run his fingers through Zayn’s hair and laughs as Zayn wrinkles his brow and pushes Liam’s hand away.

“You know I hate when people touch my hair.” He says as he pushes himself into a sitting position.

“It’s just so soft!” Liam makes his puppy dog face at Zayn.

“It is, mate. Have less soft hair if you don’t want us always petting it.” Niall says from the floor.

Zayn rolls his eyes. “Niall, we’ve been over this before. I can’t just change the texture of my hair.”

“Well quit complaining then.” Niall grumbles from the floor.

Liam grins at Zayn then, and crinkles his eyes when he sees Zayn smiling back at him. He feels warm inside when Zayn smiles at him, like he’s home.

“What should we before the show?” Zayn asks. “Actually, how long do we have before we need to go to hair and makeup?”

Liam glances down at his watch and sighs. “We’ve still got an hour till we need to go get ready. What do you want to do?”

“I kind of just like chilling here, to be honest.” Zayn says, and Liam nods at him. Zayn smiles at him and suddenly his eyes light up like he has a brilliant idea.

“What?” Liam asks warily. Most of the “brilliant ideas” that come from his band tend to end in disaster, or at least a gigantic mess.

“Could I try to solve your maze?” Zayn asks tentatively. He looks so excited that Liam finds himself saying okay before he even stops to think about it. He had just shown Zayn his tattoo a couple of weeks ago, and he had accepted it just as easily as the others. They all kept their tattoo wrists covered up with bandages, just because it was easier to avoid the questions from interviewers. He still didn’t know what was beneath Zayn’s covering.

Zayn stands up with a grin to go grab an orange fine-tip sharpie out of his bag before he flops back down on the couch and grabs Liam’s wrist.

Liam flushes as he feels Zayn’s warm fingers wrapped around his skin, and he hopes Zayn can’t feel his heartbeat fluttering through his veins. Zayn pulls the cap of the Sharpie off with his teeth, and leaves the orange piece of plastic between his lips as he presses the tip of the pen to the opening of the maze. The pen feels strange and slightly cool against Liam’s skin and he sucks in a breath at the first touch. Zayn looks up and raises his eyebrows as if to ask “Is this okay?” so Liam nods down at him and tries to even his heart rate.

It’s a pretty intricate maze Liam realizes when the hour is up, and Zayn still hasn’t gotten more than half a centimeter into the maze that is six centimeters long on each side. When one of the stage managers comes to knock on the door, Liam has to shake his hand a few times because it fell asleep while Zayn was trying to solve the maze.

“Sorry mate, maybe next time.” Liam says and smiles at Zayn as he stands up.

“Definitely next time.” Zayn says and bumps his shoulder against Liam’s. He stops to give Niall a hand in standing up and the three head to costuming to get changed for the show.

~

They don’t have as much free time the next day: they’ve got a couple interviews in the afternoon and they go straight to wardrobe afterwards, and then they’re all hustled on stage. It’s one of the best days of tour so far, but when Liam falls into bed exhausted that night, he can’t help but be disappointed that Zayn didn’t get a chance to try to solve his maze that day.

The day after that is just as busy, with meetings with people from management and the record label crammed in between interviews and sound check, and the same thing happens the next day and the day after that. They all know their band is getting bigger and things are getting more serious, but none of them feel any different. Liam still just feels like the kid from Wolverhampton who lost the X Factor twice. The number of screaming of girls wherever they go seems to increase exponentially from city to city, and their minutes of free time seem to decrease exponentially with every day that passes.

They make it a week into the craziness with more and more girls waiting around for them, screaming and crying, before Liam snaps. He’s supposed to be meeting with his vocal coach, or maybe he’s supposed to be getting his hair done by Lou? He’s not really sure, but he is currently sitting on the floor of a broom cupboard. It’s dark and dusty, and not very comfortable, but it still feels more stable than anywhere else right now. He pulls out his phone to play a game, but he notices a big black spider on the wall behind a broom. He inches backwards toward the opposite wall and hopes there aren’t any spiders back there.

“Help.” He sends Zayn.

“Where r u?”

“Broom cupboard. thrid floor. Big spdier.”

He wraps his arms around his knees and stares at the spider for several minutes. Every time it moves one of its many evil legs he tenses his whole body and prepares for war. He’s just about worked up the courage to go kill the spider himself when the door is flung open and the fluorescent hall lights nearly blind him.

“Liam, what are you doing in here?” He hears Zayn ask from above him, but he refuses to speak while he is being blinded. It’s just too rude. He grabs the ankle of Zayn’s pants and pulls him into the cupboard, and Zayn ends up sitting half on top of him in the dark as he shuts the door behind him.

“I just got sick of everything being crazy. I wanted a minute to myself.” He says, and he tries to look Zayn in the eyes which turns out to be pretty impossible in the dark.

“So why am I here?” Zayn sounds confused, and maybe a little hurt.

“I always want you with me.” Liam says earnestly. “Also I still need you to kill the spider.”

He can almost hear Zayn roll his eyes in the darkness. Zayn pulls out his phone and shines it on the walls, until he sees the demon creature hiding behind the broom. He grabs a rag off the floor and squishes the spider and then waves the rag in Liam’s face.

“Zayn!” Liam shrieks and shoves him over so he’s no longer crouching.

“Sorry.” Zayn says but Liam can hear the smile in his voice. “Hey, Liam?” Zayn sounds nervous about what he’s going to say, and Liam suddenly has a rock in his stomach. If Zayn is nervous, nothing good can possibly come out of his mouth.

He swallows, “Yeah mate?” He clenches his hands into fists, preparing for the worst. He doesn’t even know what the worst is. Zayn leaving the band? Yeah, that would probably be the worst thing that could happen. He’s just about to blurt out all of the reasons that Zayn can’t quit when he hears Zayn start speaking.

“Well… I was just wondering if I could try to solve your maze again?”

Liam lets out a deep breath and laughs a bit. That wasn’t bad at all. How could Zayn have possibly been nervous about that?

“Definitely. Do you want to do it right now?” He sticks his wrist where he thinks Zayn’s face is and ends up bonking him in the nose. He giggles. “Sorry.”

“No worries mate. And sure.” Zayn sounds relieved. He unlocks his phone and sets it on the ground so the cupboard is lit up just enough to see. He pulls a red pen out from behind his ear and grabs Liam’s wrist.

Liam relaxes into the wall and closes his eyes, and focuses on the feeling of the pen dragging against his skin. It’s weirdly soothing. They sit like that for half an hour before they’re found. Paul knocks on the door before opening it, which is kind of weird. He also seems surprised to see them just sitting there, but Liam can’t figure out why.

“Well, come on.” Paul says gruffly, and pulls the both of them to standing. As they walk towards the green room, Liam gives Zayn a small smile, and his heart flutters when Zayn returns it.

“Again tomorrow?” He asks as he bumps Zayn’s hand with his own.

Zayn nods seriously. “Tomorrow.”

~

It becomes a thing after that: Zayn trying to solve Liam’s maze in their down time. He spends a couple hours every day during the X Factor Tour tracing the white lines of Liam’s wrist with his brightly colored pens, and when the boys make the transition to the studio to record their album, he does the same while the other boys are recording their bits.

~

Their album debuts and does surprisingly well, and suddenly they’re blowing up. They keep playing shows, and what Liam thought were large crowds of fans turn out to be less than a hundredth of the size of the crowds that follow them around these days. They can barely hear themselves singing over the screaming at their shows (yes, he knows that’s an exaggeration, but that’s what happened to the Beatles and he sometimes like to think that they’re like the Beatles.)

The boys all stop wandering around as much because they’re scared to end up alone and trapped, mobbed by the fans. They’re all lying about in one of the green rooms discussing this change one afternoon while they wait for their next appearance. Louis cuts in with a sigh, presumably bored by the serious conversation.

“If one of the fans kidnapped you and forced you to be her husband would you do it?” He asks while lying upside down on the couch. His bare feet are banging gently against the wall, and his hair is falling freely around his face.

“Sure, why not.” Niall shrugs, continuing to eat his crisps.

“But she wouldn’t be your soulmate. Wouldn’t you feel wrong?” Liam asks seriously. He furrows his brows.

“That’s not the point Liam!” Louis says, sounding exasperated. “She has an axe and she’s going to chop off your fingers and toes one by one and then pull your teeth out if you don’t pretend to be her husband.”

“I’m pretty sure Liam could take one of the fans.” Harry says calmly from where he’s lying on a plush rug on the floor. His eyes are closed, and Liam didn’t even really think he was awake.

“Not if she takes him by surprise!”

Liam sighs heavily. “Fine. If somehow I was kidnapped by a fan and she was going to cut my fingers all off if I didn’t pretend to be her husband I would probably marry her.”

“I wouldn’t.” Harry says, still not opening his eyes.

“Why not?” Louis demands and flips right side up to glare at Harry properly. Liam doesn’t really see what the point of that was, seeing as Harry can’t even tell what Louis is doing.

“Stop glaring at me.” Harry says, and Liam groans. He hates when those two have their weird psychic thing going on.  “I just think there’s no point of a relationship or life if you don’t even try to find your soulmate.”

Louis squints his eyes further. Liam wonders why he cares so much anyways, but he knows better than to ask.

“That’s not very healthy mate.” Zayn says after looking up from his book of mazes. He catches Liam’s eye and grins when he sees that Liam was looking at his puzzle book.

“Why not?” Harry cracks one eye open, so he must be very concerned.

“To not want to live unless you find your soulmate? You don’t see what’s wrong with that?” Zayn asks incredulously.

Harry raises his hands above his face and cracks his knuckles one by one. “I dunno. It kind of seems to me like that’s the point of everything, is to find your soulmate.”

“So we aren’t enough for you then?” Zayn snaps, and he sounds properly mad now. He slams his puzzle book down on the table.

Harry sits up so fast Liam misses it when he blinks. “What? Of course that’s not what I meant!”

“That’s what it sounds like. It sounds like you’re only in this band to find your soulmate, and once you find them then you won’t need us or even want us anymore.”

“What – That’s not – “ Harry sounds completely baffled now, and he tugs at his hair with his hands.

“I mean, it does kind of sound like that Harry. Would you leave us if you had to choose between the band and your soulmate?” Louis asks quietly, and Liam can’t believe how quickly this conversation turned sour. There’s an awful silence before Harry answers, and even Niall stopped munching his crisps to sit there with his mouth hanging open.

“I… I don’t think that would ever happen.” Harry says, eyes wide and cheeks flushed.

“Alright.” Louis snaps and stands up to walk out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

“I’m just gonna go… find Louis.” Zayn says. He follows Louis out of the room without meeting Liam’s eyes.

Harry makes a soft noise and when Liam looks down at him, there are tears in Harry’s eyes. Harry clears his throat and looks down at his hands. When he glances back up at Liam, he doesn’t look sad anymore.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” He states firmly. He stares Liam down and the fire in his eyes makes Liam shrink a little bit. He shrugs one shoulder, hoping that Harry will take it as the neutral gesture it is.

“What did you mean?” Niall asks accusingly. His cheeks are flushed lightly red, and Liam’s heart pangs with sadness. He can’t stand the thought of any of them without the others.

Harry’s eyes are wide as he stares at Niall guiltily. “I feel like you guys are my soulmates,” He says earnestly. Liam can’t help from flinching back in surprise, but Harry continues before he can say anything. “All of you. I feel like fate brought the five of us together and I can’t even imagine finding someone who would make me feel more than I do with all of you. I meant that I can’t think about soulmates without thinking about the four of you. ”

Liam’s heart swells, and he can’t help the soft smile that grows on his face.

“Awwwwww!” Niall coos and throws himself at Harry to wrap him into a bear hug. “You love us!” He says into Harry’s neck, which muffles the noise a bit.

Liam slides off the couch to join in the group hug. “I feel like that too, sometimes.” He whispers into Harry’s ear, and he can hear Harry’s responding grin against his shoulder.

They slowly pull out of the hug, and Liam frowns when he notices that Harry’s smile has been replaced with a frown. “What’s wrong?”

“Louis is still going to be mad at me.” Harry’s voice is small. He doesn’t look up from his lap.

“Just tell him what you told us.” Niall suggests. Liam nods in agreement.

“He can’t possibly be mad at you if he knows that you think we’re all a form of soulmates.” Liam smiles as he finishes the sentence. He’s glad that Harry was the first one to say it, and that he wasn’t the only one who felt this way.

Harry breathes out sharply. “Okay,” he nods. “I’ll talk to him before the show.”

Liam pats Harry’s shoulder and then carefully stands. “I’m going to go find Zayn. I bet Louis is with him, and I’ll let him know that you want to talk to him.”

“Thanks.” Harry breathes out gently. Liam smiles down at both him and Niall before he walks out.

~

He finds Zayn and Louis on the tour bus playing video games. Louis is hitting the controller a little more aggressively than is probably necessary, but he doesn’t quite look angry anymore.

Liam flops down on the couch next to Zayn and rests his head in his lap. He closes his eyes and hums happily when Zayn starts to rub his hair gently while they wait for the game to load.

“What did Harry have to say, then?” Louis asks, but when Liam opens his eyes Louis is still staring at the TV screen.

“He should probably tell you himself.” Liam says apologetically, but he smiles when he hears the put-upon sigh that Louis replies with.

“It just seems like he doesn’t care about us, you know?” Louis says, but his voice wobbles.

“He does. He loves us just as much as we love him, we just all have different ways of showing it.” Liam says, closing his eyes again.

“I guess.” Louis says but he sounds angry again.

“You should really go talk to him.”

“Shut up.” Louis says. “How can he-“ He cuts himself off and slams a button on the game controller a few times. There are a few minutes of silence before he speaks again. Liam lets his eyes drift shut as Zayn’s hand weaves through his hair.

“I don’t have a mark, you know.” Louis announces angrily, like it’s a challenge. He glances at Liam out of the corner of his eye to gauge his reaction.

Liam shrugs. “You’ll know when you know anyways.”

Louis frowns. “What if I don’t want to know.”

“You don’t have to have a soulmate.” Zayn says gently, like he’s repeated this to Louis many times.

Louis shoots Zayn a look, and Liam can feel Zayn tense underneath him. “You’re such a hypocrite.”

Liam closes his eyes again and pretends not to know that something is happening. Zayn resumes stroking his hair again. Liam smiles softly in response.

“I think you would appreciate what Harry has to say.” Liam says when it’s clear that neither of the others are going to say anything more.

Louis sighs. “I don’t want to hear his whole ‘soulmates are meant to be’ garbage again.”

“That’s not what he’s going to say.”

Louis shoots him a glare. “How do you know that?”

“Because I know what he’s going to say. And that you’ll like it.” Liam kicks Louis gently in the side.

“You can’t know that.” Louis refuses to look at him again.

Liam weighs the pros and cons of letting what Harry says be a complete surprise. “Do you think the five of us are soulmates?” He asks after a moment. Zayn tenses again, and when Liam looks up, he’s frowning into the distance.

“What?” Louis’s mouth is hanging open, and the game continues abandoned on the screen. Liam pushes himself up to sit between the two of them on the couch.

“No one said that all soulmates have to be romantic.” He didn’t think that Louis would be angry at his suggestion, and he’s starting to get nervous.

“But none of us have any marks that say it…” Louis answers, and Liam can hear the wistful tone in his voice. Liam smiles gently at him.

“I don’t think we need marks. I think we all know.” Liam tells him confidently. He smiles at the soft look on Louis’s face in response. “Go talk to Harry.” He kicks Louis again, who fake-scowls in response but stands up to find his shoes. He makes sure to wave one of the smelly vans sneaker’s in Liam’s face before he walks out.

Liam flops back down onto Zayn’s lap once the bus door slams behind him. Zayn is smiling down at him with his special Liam smile, and Liam’s heart flutters in response.

“I don’t have a mark either.” Zayn whispers once Liam’s eyes have drifted shut from Zayn stroking his hair.

“I love you.” He whispers back. Zayn laughs softly, and Liam drifts off to sleep with his head still in Zayn’s lap.

~

Zayn is staring at him weirdly a few weeks later while they’re sitting in Liam’s hotel room watching cartoons.

Liam raises his eyebrows. “What?”

“Do you remember what I told you about my mark?” Zayn asks quietly. Liam can tell that there is a storm beneath his eyes even though his face doesn’t reveal anything.

He remembers Zayn’s whispered admission and he nods. “Of course. Why, what’s up?”

Zayn shakes his head in response, but his shoulders relax the tension that Liam hadn’t even seen at first. “I just…” He trails off. “I wasn’t sure if you remembered.”

Liam leans his head against Zayn’s shoulder and feels him relax even further. “I’ll always be here for you.” Liam says and then laughs. “Sorry, that was really cheesy.”

“Cheese is good sometimes.” Zayn replies. “Especially cheddar.” His voice is serious, but Liam can feel his shoulders shaking with laughter.

“That is worse than any of Harry’s puns.”

“Hey!” Zayn protests, and shoves Liam, who shoves him back, and they forget about the conversation in the midst of their play-wrestling.

~

Harry and Zayn decide to reveal their wrists for the movie. It’s a big deal, and they have to meet with producers and management every day for a few months to make sure that everything is okay legally. They don’t want to seem like they are exploiting marks to make money, or that searching for soulmates is the main point of the movie.

Harry talks about how confusing his tattoo is, and how he’s explored every possible meaning he could think of. They film him talking about it on a dock in Norway, after he and Liam have gone fishing there for several hours.

“If any of you guys have any theories about what my tattoo means, let me know.” Harry jokes, grinning his Cheshire cat smile at the camera.

Liam laughs in the background, and casts his line out into the glimmering blue water again. “Be careful what you ask for, Harry.”

When Liam watches the edited film later with the rest of the band, he smiles at the shrug Harry gives the camera then, his green eyes filled with genuine happiness and excitement at the thought of his soulmate. He wishes he felt like that about his soulmate, but the happiness of his four boys is enough for him for now.

He’s less pleased that Zayn shared his story with their fans, but he’s not sure why. He doesn’t think the fans have a right to it, but if Zayn wants to share it, then Liam doesn’t want to tell him what to do. He’s worried that Zayn will be hurt, but he’s sure that Zayn has considered that possibility already.

Zayn’s segment from the movie was filmed on the same day but at a different location in Norway where he spent the day with Louis and Niall. The other boys play a game of footie in the background while Zayn bares his wrist for the camera, the sun illuminating his bare skin. Liam’s stomach twists when he sees Zayn’s open expression as he talks about how he believes he has a soulmate, and his mark just hasn’t shown up yet.

He can feel the corners of his mouth turn down at the edges, suddenly uncomfortable with the idea that the fans could think that they are Zayn’s soulmate. Zayn must notice his discomfort, because he grabs Liam’s hand and squeezes gently. “You know I still believe we’re all soulmates.”

Liam smiles weakly back, and hopes that Zayn buys that that’s what he was uncomfortable about. “You’re brave to tell the whole world.” He whispers back, trying not to piss off Louis by talking through his segment about his X factor audition. He doesn’t really succeed judging by the full force death glare Louis sends his way.

“It just felt right.” Zayn shrugs, and leans around Liam to glare back at Louis. “I’ve spent this long waiting, so I figured that the only thing left to do is tell people and hope that something changes.”

Liam nods, but he still feels uneasy in the pit of his stomach. He lets go of Zayn’s hand to grab a handful of popcorn and pretends that his hand doesn’t feel cold where Zayn’s fingers used to be.  

~

It feels like he’s counting down the days he has left of Zayn a little bit, and it scares him that he thinks that way. Every day that the movie premiere draws closer, he feels like he loses another piece of Zayn. He tells Zayn this the night before the movie comes out, when they’re hanging around at Liam’s place playing video games.

“Aw Liam, you’ll never lose me!” He says, grinning confidently from his spot on Liam’s awful pee-green couch.

Liam shrugs. “Yeah, but it’s still more likely that you’ll find your soulmate now.” He says. “And what if they’re so perfect for you that you won’t want to spend as much time with me anymore?” He mumbles, embarrassed to admit that he’s afraid of losing Zayn.

“Liam, I promise that I will not leave you.” Zayn looks at him seriously.

Liam shrugs again. He’s not sure how to respond to that because Zayn knew what he was really scared of and he didn’t even have to tell him. He wants to believe him, but he doesn’t know how he can trust that when neither of them know what to expect.

“How can I prove it?” Zayn asks. “Oh, I have an idea.” He beams brightly at Liam and sets down his game controller to hold out his pinky finger. “I pinky promise that I won’t leave you until I solve the unsolvable maze on your wrist.”

Liam rolls his eyes but he moves from his spot in his favorite leather chair to wrap his own pinky around Zayn’s. He returns to his own chair to sit down and restarts the game before responding. “Thanks.” When he glances over at Zayn, he has a soft smile on his face.

~

The fans lose it when they watch the movie and find out about Zayn and Harry’s soulmate tattoos. News spreads fast, and fans who haven’t even had the chance to see the movie yet are sending a constant barrage of tweets to both the boys. News websites keep posting articles about it, even though they haven’t officially released any photos yet.

While he’s checking out the fans’ reactions, Liam accidentally clicks on a link to a post analyzing Harry’s tattoo. He quickly clicks out of the site before he reads anything that will scar him forever. He doesn’t want to know what the fans are saying about Harry’s soulmate, and he can’t imagine what people are concluding about Zayn’s soulmate. He doesn’t really want to know.

Zayn and Harry seem pleased with the response from the fans. They’ve had to meet with the PR people at least once every day since the movie was released, so they know how to respond to questions from interviewers, and how to tweet about the subject. This type of release of information about soulmate tattoos is unprecedented: usually tattoos are shown to the public from the beginning of a career, or they are kept secret until the person is out of the public light. The PR people keep close tabs on what the fans are talking about, and they seem surprised by the positivity.

Liam walks into the break room of their management building to try to find some tea before the weekly debrief.  Harry and Zayn are laughing while they reading a magazine together on the leather couch.

“What’s that?” Liam asks them as he grabs a green apple from the table of snacks. Louis and Niall don’t seem to be there yet, or they could be off somewhere getting into trouble. Liam hopes they’re just late.

“It’s an article about our tattoos,” Harry says brightly, “Apparently the sun thinks my soulmate is Taylor Swift!”

Liam raises his eyebrows and flops down on the couch next to Zayn. He rests the back of his head on the other boy’s shoulder as he takes a bite of his apple. “Why?”

“Something about the number of sales of her album and number of fans who attended the show or something. They kind of ignored the colons between the numbers, but I wonder if I could get the PR people to set me up on a date with her now…”

Liam frowns. “I thought you were gay.” He feels Zayn’s shoulder shake beneath his head and he pouts. He hates when Zayn laughs at him. Louis walks in while Zayn’s still chuckling and immediately flops down onto Liam’s feet, even though there’s at least three feet of space at the other end of the couch.

“I’m bisexual, Liam. There is a difference.” Harry says huffily. “Besides, I don’t want to actually date her, I just want to go on a date with her.”

 Liam frowns in confusion. “What’s the difference?”

He sighs. He wiggles his toes to try to get Louis to move off of his feet, but Louis just slaps his ankle. Louis glares back at him. Liam can take this challenge. He watches carefully but still almost misses it when Louis dives to pinch his nipple. He twines their fingers together instead of pinching him back, and squeezes his hand gently. Louis looks away from him, but doesn’t drop his hand.

“Well we’re probably not actually soulmates, but she seems fun so we could just spend time together without worrying about it.”

Niall runs in then, and he locks the door behind him. He’s glancing around guiltily, and he’s slightly out of breath but Liam thinks he’d rather not know what he was up to.

Zayn nods his head. “I think it’s a great idea, Harry. The PR people keep saying that all press about our tattoos is good press after all.”

“Maybe they can set you up on a date with someone, too!” Harry says excitedly, and Liam suddenly feels tired. He doesn’t want to do this anymore. He doesn’t want anyone to know his tattoo ever, and he doesn’t want his band to talk about their tattoos anymore. He doesn’t want to find his soulmate. He just wants everything to stay the same forever, even though he knows it can’t. He closes his eyes again, but smiles shakily when he feels Louis gently squeeze his ankle.  

“Nah, I don’t think so.” Zayn says slowly, the way he does when he’s thinking hard about something. “Doesn’t sound like me.”

“Yeah, if Zayn suddenly started dating in the public eye, people would flip tits.” Niall says, and it sounds like he’s still eating something from the snack table while he’s talking. How does he always catch up to conversations so quickly?

“But won’t they expect you to date someone now that you’ve revealed your tattoo?” Louis asks. He sounds slightly bitter, and Liam imagines that he doesn’t want to lose their group dynamic to soulmates either.

“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean I have to do it. Since when have I done what they expected of me? I mean, I’m not exactly the ideal celebrity. I deleted my twitter for fuck’s sake.” Zayn laughs self-deprecatingly when he finishes speaking.

“That’s true.” Niall says, consideringly.

“That’s why I’m never revealing mine.” Louis says, and Liam’s eyes fly open in surprise. “I have to do what they expect of me, but I never want to date someone just for the publicity. I only want to be with my soulmate, but I’m not going to fight to find them as long as this band is famous.”

There’s a silence for a moment, and Liam’s heart is beating a twice its normal speed. He feels the same as Louis, he never wants to reveal his tattoo because he can’t deal with the expectations, but he can tell that the other boys don’t understand from their lack of response.

“You would never reveal your tattoo?” Harry asks quietly, and Louis shakes his head.

“Not until I found my soulmate.” He says, and frowns at Liam, probably for disturbing his seat. He didn’t even notice that he sat up until then.  

“Me neither.” Liam says, and he hopes it comes off casually as he finishes his apple.

“Why?” Zayn asks, and when Liam glances at him, he’s frowning.

Liam stands up to throw away his apple core before he answers. “Well I don’t want to make a big fuss about my tattoo, because I’ve never heard of anyone’s changing before. I don’t want to be interrogated for the rest of my life. And it feels more private to me. I dunno, it just feels wrong to share it.”

Harry nods while he talks, and Zayn stops frowning so he supposes he answered the question alright. “That makes sense, Li.” Zayn says, and offers up his shoulder for Liam to rest his head on again when he sits down.

“Very serious discussion this morning, boys.” Louis says as he stands up, and he’s using his trouble voice as he walks over to the snack table. “I guess this means… War!” He cries, and beans Harry in the head with an ice cube.

“Heyyyyyy.” Harry says and frowns. He walks over to the table and grabs an ice cube as he stares Louis down.

“Throw it at me Harold, I dare you.”

Harry squints and rushes forward to shove the ice cube down Louis’s pants, and Louis screeches. Soon everyone is pelting each other with ice cubes and trying to stick them in each others’ clothing, and when someone comes to fetch them for their first meeting of the day, they’re all shivering and dripping wet. Luckily, she’s worked with them before so she just shakes her head and leads them to the meeting room.

~

Liam can’t keep his mind off of their conversation from that morning, though, and he suddenly has a fear that someone will capture a photo of his tattoo. He’s always covered up his tattoo carefully whenever he knows there will be anyone who hasn’t seen his mark before. He just now makes sure to cover it up with multiple layers. He wears a bandage around his wrist at all times, and then covers his tattoo area with a watch and a sleeve when he can, or sometimes just a watch.

He knows that it’s likely that there will be leaked photos of his tattoo at some point, but he hopes that if he limits the exposure to the public, people won’t realize that his tattoo changes. If someone doesn’t publicly talk about their tattoo, then the media are not legally allowed to talk about it either, and he thinks that paparazzi are not allowed to sell photos that show the tattoo either. Still, he worries that someone will catch a glimpse of his tattoo, and know his secret. He knows it’s incredibly rare for tattoos to change or move at all, so people probably won’t suspect it if they see a couple photos anyways, but still, he thinks it’s best to try to keep the knowledge and visibility of his tattoo to a minimum.

~

Zayn is still nervous when they fly, even though they have their own private jet now. Solving puzzles usually helps him relax though, so he and Liam have settled into a routine when they fly where Zayn tries to solve Liam’s maze, usually while Liam watches Breaking Bad.

“What color do you want today?” Zayn asks him after they’ve settled into their cabin under a huge pile of blankets.

Liam glances out the window as he ponders the question. It’s an early morning flight, so the sun is just barely beginning to pop out from beyond the horizon. The sky at the edge of the world is burning a brilliant ochre, and Liam smiles. “Gold.” He tells Zayn. Zayn’s eyes crinkle as he smiles in response.

Once the plane takes off, the rumbling of the engine makes Liam drowsy again. He blinks slowly while he watches Zayn meticulously trace thin lines onto his wrist. He doesn’t notice he dozes off until Zayn shakes him awake what must be several hours later. The orange of the sunrise is long gone, and the sky is a pale blue all around the plane.

“Sorry.” Liam mumbles sleepily. “Did you finish it?” He asks Zayn.

Zayn laughs at him, but there is a quizzical expression in his face.

“What?” He asks self-consciously. He looks down at his wrist, but there is no trace of any gold pen lines, and the maze looks completely different than it did this morning. He furrows his eyebrows.

“It changed while you were sleeping.” Zayn explains to him. “The lines started wiggling just a little bit back and forth at first, but then they kind of crawled around. They almost looked like tiny black caterpillars inching around across your wrist. They just resettled a few minutes ago.”

“Huh.” Liam says, stunned. It had never occurred to him to wonder exactly how the tattoo changed. He blushes when he realizes that he had never trusted anyone enough to let them see his tattoo while he slept. When he looks up at Zayn, he’s still smiling softly and Liam. Liam’s heart flutters in response. He lets himself hope for the first time that his mark will lead him to Zayn.

~

The first interview that involves questions about their soulmate tattoos goes surprisingly well, all things considered. The interviewer is legally only allowed to ask about Zayn and Harry’s tattoos, but she is allowed to ask what the other boys think of their tattoos, as well.

They’re somewhere in America, which is a bit nervewracking, but Liam is just glad they’re not in Australia. The interviewers there have no boundaries. It’s an older woman interviewing them, with a brunette bob and laughter lines framing her eyes. She seats them all on a soft green couch, the color that Liam thinks his couch at home was supposed to be. Liam is seated between Louis and Zayn, with Harry next to Zayn and Niall nearly seated on top of Louis. The interview isn’t live thankfully, but there is a live studio audience. The interviewer assures them that the fans will be kept quiet at the appropriate moments, which always makes Liam feel bad. He doesn’t want their fans to feel bad for being fans, so he makes sure to wave at a few of them before they start recording.

The interview starts with the same basic questions: how did they come up with their band name, who does the most writing for the band, what was the craziest thing a fan ever did. Liam tells the story of the girl in the bin as always, and he laughs even though he still feels bad for making fun of a fan even all these years later.

Liam sits quietly while Zayn and Harry answer the interviewer’s questions about their marks. She asks Zayn why he believes that he has a soulmate, and Liam can feel him shift on the couch next to him.

“I guess I can just feel it. There’s like a fire in my heart, and I know that it’s because of someone else.”

The interviewer coos at him. Liam tries not to visibly tense, but then Zayn catches his eye and something in his gaze makes Liam feel like he’s glowing all over. He can’t shake the pleasant buzzing feeling for the rest of the interview.

~

It’s Christmas night and Liam’s family has already had their fancy dinner and there’s not really anything left to do. They watched Love Actually and It’s a Wonderful Life last night, and Rudolph this morning when Ruth brought the baby over. He’s itching to put a movie in, but his dad is passed out on the couch and he doesn’t want to wake him up since he spent all day cooking.

It should be nice to just sit and relax with his parents. His mum is reading the new book he picked out as her gift for this year, her glasses perched on the end of her nose so she can see through the bifocals. Ruth left hours ago when the baby started crying from exhaustion, and Nicola could only stop by last night to celebrate. He feels like something is missing, but he’s not sure it’s his family.

He’s lying on the rug in the living room on his stomach, with his phone tucked into his back pocket. He startles when it buzzes, and he pulls it out expecting a tweet wishing a happy Christmas, but he feels a rush of warmth when he sees a text message from Zayn.

“Merry Christmas Liam!” It says, but he’s attached a few of the Christmas tree emojis, and some of the colorful hearts.

He smiles widely as he replies “Merry Christmas Zaynie! Wish u wer here“ and he attaches a selfie of him pouting at the camera.

“Wanna facetime?” He gets back just a moment later, and he presses the button to facetime immediately, and pushes himself to standing as it rings so he can walk to his bedroom and not bother his parents. It rings for a terrifying amount of time, long enough that he worries that Zayn won’t answer, but once he’s closed his bedroom door he can hear Zayn say his name through the speaker.

“Hiya!” He beams at the camera as he flops down onto his bed.

“How was your Christmas?” Zayn asks, and Liam can see his sisters sitting in a circle on the floor behind him, and it looks like they’re playing some sort of game.

“It was good! Dinner was delicious, and mum and dad got me this sick antique action figure set, I have to show you it sometime! How about you?”

“I had a good day too, the girls loved the designer stuff I got them, and we’ve been playing games all night.”

“What games did you play?” Liam can feel happiness wash over him the longer he speaks to Zayn, and he no longer feels unsettled.

“We played card games for a few hours until dinner and now we’re playing this game where you guess what the card on your forehead says.”

“Like that game Louis made us play when we got stuck in traffic in New York on the way to the movie premiere?” Liam laughs at the memory. Louis had stuck a sticky note on his forehead that said “Simon Cowell’s left nut,” and Zayn had been Rebecca Ferguson. Zayn’s scowl when he realized what was on his sticky note was so intense Liam thinks it’s permanently burned into his mind.

Zayn frowns a little bit at the memory, which makes Liam laugh even harder. “I guess, but so far I’ve only had Barrack Obama, the bank, and a penguin, none of which are half as awful as the ones Louis made.”

“That’s true.” Liam yawns through his words, suddenly tired now that he feels settled in his skin.

“Are you tired Leem? You should go to sleep, I bet you’re still tired from tour.” Zayn says, and Liam smiles at the concern in his voice.

“Yeah I might just fall asleep here.” Liam closes his eyes, but he can sense that Zayn is smiling fondly at him.

“I’ll let you go then.” Zayn says, so Liam pouts again.

“No, will you stay until I fall asleep? Unless you want to get back to the game.” He says with his eyes still closed as he crawls under the covers.

“Sure, Liam.” Zayn is smiling his special Liam smile, and his eyes are crinkled up and sparkling with the light of a thousand suns. Liam feels a tug at his heart, and he closes his eyes to keep the moment safe in his memory.

He must fall asleep then because when he wakes up the dark and the silence of the house seem much heavier, and his phone screen is black in his hand. He plugs it in on the stand next to his bed, and he catches sight of his maze on his wrist as he does it.

It doesn’t seem as foreboding and evil anymore, like it’s completely unsolvable and he will never meet his soulmate. Zayn changed it so it seems like an adventure, and Liam has grown to love the tangled mess of lines on his wrist because it reminds him of his best friend. He traces the paths gently with his fingers, and he drifts off to sleep again with a smile on his face at the memory of Zayn tracing colorful lines onto his wrist.

~

They’re sitting on the porch of a hotel room in a city in southern California. Liam’s not sure which one, he just knows it’s warm and sunny in the middle of January. He’s changed into his swimsuit and is lying shirtless on one of the lounge chairs trying to catch some sun. Zayn is next to him, but he didn’t want to change so he’s stretched out in a t shirt and jeans, reading a thick book. He says it’s sad, but he won’t tell Liam anything else about it until he finishes it.

Zayn closes the book when Liam looks over at him, but he’s got the crease between his eyebrows that means he’s upset. Liam reaches over to him and gently wraps his fingers around his wrist.

“Do you want to do my maze?” Liam asks, and smiles when Zayn nods. He flips over onto his stomach so that Zayn can reach his left wrist while Zayn goes back into the hotel room to grab his sharpies.

“What color do you want today?” Zayn asks as he shuts the hotel sliding door behind him.

Liam thinks about the sun on his back, and the clear blue sky above him. There’s a wind softly blowing his hair on his face, and he can smell Zayn’s familiar scent next to him. He can’t imagine anywhere he would rather be, and he feels like his heart is full to the brim with happiness. He wants to choose a color he can associate with this day and with Zayn forever. The only color he has in his mind is light blue, the color of the sky right now and the color of his love for Zayn.

“Light blue.” He says, smiling softly.  

“Perfect choice.” Zayn says, and he’s smiling Liam’s favorite smile back at him. He holds Liam’s wrist as carefully and tenderly as always, and begins to trace his colorful lines on Liam’s skin. He pauses every now and then to check the next turn to make in the maze, and Liam stays awake, hyperaware of Zayn’s fingers holding his wrist like he’s breakable.

Liam notices some time later that this is probably the longest amount of uninterrupted time they’ve had to work on the maze for as long as he can remember. The sun doesn’t feel warm on his back anymore, and when Liam opens his eyes he sees that clouds have appeared to cover the sky. They don’t look like heavy rain clouds, but Liam figures they should go inside before it starts raining anyways. He opens his eyes to warn Zayn before he moves, because he doesn’t want to ruin Zayn’s perfect lines.

“Hey, Zayn.” He says at the same time Zayn says his name. He laughs. “What’s up?”

Zayn is staring at him with wide eyes and flushed cheeks, and Liam wonders if there’s something wrong. Maybe his maze is unsolvable. Maybe Zayn realized what his tattoo means?

Zayn’s eyes flick down to Liam’s wrist, and Liam carefully pulls his wrist out of Zayn’s grasp to inspect his maze. He gasps when he sees the blue line twisting all the way to the center. There’s just one turn left to get to the end. Liam’s heart starts hammering in his chest, and he hears a faint buzzing sound. They’re so close.

He holds his wrist back out to Zayn and stares at the other boy. He can see the fear and anticipation in Zayn’s glistening brown eyes, but more than that, he sees the love and excitement. He wants this finished once and for all, and he wants to finish it with Zayn.

“Finish it.” He says, not breaking eye contact. Zayn blinks and looks down at Liam’s wrist. He uncaps the sharpie once more and tenderly wraps his fingers around Liam’s wrist again. He sucks in a deep breath, and draws the last short light blue line to connect his path to the center of the maze. As soon as his pen hits the center of the tattoo, it starts to feel warm, and Liam pulls his hand sharply away from Zayn’s. He stares down at his wrist as the blue ink seems to sink into his skin, as if branding him.

He feels lightheaded and he looks to Zayn for reassurance, but Zayn is white as a sheet and looks like he’s seen a ghost. Zayn won’t meet his eyes, and is instead staring at his own wrist.

“What-“ He says, and then he sees it. His own name has appeared on Zayn’s wrist, in solid black lettering like all of the classic marks. He marvels that he hasn’t seen such a straightforward tattoo in ages before he realizes what this means.

“Holy shit.” He says, and stands abruptly, pushing his lounge chair back and making a horrible scraping noise. Zayn is still staring at his own wrist, but he looks up at Liam at the sound. His mouth is hanging open and he looks like a deer in headlights, and Liam can’t do it. He can’t be here right now.

“I can’t- I’m sorry, I have to go.” Liam says, and flinches as a drop of rain hits him square in the forehead. He rushes to the sliding door and then runs across the hotel room. He looks back when he opens the door to the hallway, and sees Zayn still sitting there staring at his wrist as the rain starts to pour down on him.

He closes the door behind him and marches over to the room that he knows Louis is staying in. He bangs on the door loudly, trying to channel his panic into the wood. The door opens to a frowning Louis.

“What do you want?” He asks, blocking Liam’s entrance, and Liam starts to sweat. What if Zayn comes into the hall?

“Louis please, I need you to let me in. Please.” He begs, wringing his hands together. Louis seems to pick up on his panic then. His eyes widen, and he opens the door for Liam. Liam walks in quickly, and locks and chains the door behind Louis.

“Liam, what –“ Louis asks him, but Liam cuts him off by shaking his head.

“Can we just. I can’t talk about it. Can we just watch some telly?” He asks, his heart still beating at the speed of a hummingbird’s wings.

“Is everything okay?” Louis asks carefully, like Liam is a bomb about to explode. And he is, he supposes.

“Yes.” He says confidently, and then falters. “Well, no. I don’t know.” He feels like he’s about to climb out of his skin with the realizations of a few minutes ago, and he can’t think about the implications for the band and for the rest of his life quite yet.

“Okay.” Louis nods, and then climbs into the bed. He pats the spot next to him, and Liam climbs up gingerly to sit. He seems to understand that Liam can’t talk about it yet, and he switches on the television to what must be a cooking channel.

Liam watches the chefs cook with wonton wrappers, pig tongue, and marshmallow fluff and tries not to think about the show that night. How will he act normal on stage? He can’t completely avoid Zayn, but he also doesn’t think he will be able to look at him without panicking. The idea that Zayn is his – no he can’t even think the word yet. Is enough to make him start breathing more quickly just sitting on the bed with Louis.

Louis keeps his eyes trained on the television screen, but he reaches over to grasp Liam’s hand tightly, and that grounds him. Whatever happens, he will always have the rest of the boys with him. He makes a small noise in his throat, and then readjusts himself to cuddle Louis. The older boy rests a hand on his head, scratching softly, and Liam drifts off to sleep.

~

He wakes up several hours later to Louis shaking his shoulder.

“Come on, Liam, it’s time to get ready for the show.”

Liam is so comfortable in the bed, though. He curls up into a ball under the soft hotel sheets, admiring how cozy they are, before he suddenly remembers. His eyes fly open in fear, and he sees Louis watching him carefully.

“It’ll be fine, Liam.” He says, and he sounds confident, but Liam can see the worry in his eyes. “Whatever it is, it’ll be fine.” He extends his hand, and Liam grabs it to be pulled out of the bed. He doesn’t have to change until he’s at the venue, so he just slips his shoes back on and shuffles out the door with Louis, keeping his head down.

He doesn’t look up from the ground, even when Zayn walks over to him and says hello while they’re waiting for the van to pull up behind the hotel. He doesn’t say anything back, just staring at his feet and hoping that the ground will swallow him up. He’s so scared. He doesn’t want anything to change, but he’s not sure he can change it.

“Liam.” Zayn says quietly, and it sounds like he’s pleading.

Liam squeezes his eyes shut, still not lifting his head up. He doesn’t know what to say, he doesn’t even know what to think. His insides suddenly go cold when he remembers that his tattoo is permanently altered. How is he supposed to stop people from noticing?

“Please.” Zayn’s voice breaks in the middle of the word, and it feels like Liam’s heart snaps at the sound. He lifts his head, but looks away from Zayn. Why can’t Zayn understand why this isn’t easy?

He walks over to Harry, and digs a finger in between the taller boy’s ribs. Harry yelps and twists away from him. “What was that for, Payne?”

~

It’s definitely not one of their better shows that night. Liam can’t even make himself look at Zayn while they’re on stage, but he tries to throw himself into performing to make up for it. The fans seem to notice that his energy is different, but he’s not sure they pick up on exactly what he’s doing.

He sings their last few numbers with his arm thrown around Louis’s shoulders. He carefully covered his tattoo with makeup the way that Lou taught him all those years ago, and then wrapped it under a bandage, and he wore a long sleeved shirt just to be safe. He’s certain that no one will notice his tattoo has changed.

He doesn’t think to look at how Zayn covered his mark up until later, but he must have. Otherwise there would have been an absolute shitstorm.

Louis scrunches up his nose as they walk off stage at the end of the show. “Sweaty.” He says, pointing to Liam’s armpits.

Liam shrugs. “I smell amazing.” He replies, shoving his armpit into Louis’s face. Louis screeches and then dives in for a nipple pinch, but Liam is able to dodge him and take off running down the hall toward the exit.

~

Liam lies awake that night, staring at the ceiling of his hotel room. Zayn wanted to stay on the bus tonight, so Liam isn’t worried that Zayn will come knock on his door, but he can’t stop worrying about what Zayn will do. Is Zayn going to tell everyone? How can they tell anyone? Shouldn’t they have known they were soulmates before now?

Liam thinks of their kiss that they shared back when they were only eighteen, and how they had both thought it meant nothing, but even to this day Liam has never forgotten the flash of passion he felt when their lips had touched.

Liam groans and turns his head to check the alarm clock on the bedside table. 03:37. He’s been lying here for more than three hours, and he can’t his brain to shut up. He decides that the only way he’s going to be exhausted enough to sleep is if he works out, so he rolls out of bed and starts doing push ups. He loses count before his arms get sore, and then he flips over and starts doing curl ups.

When both his arms and abs are aching, he flops back into bed face-down, and thankfully he falls asleep.

~

“Liam, what the fuck are you doing?” He wakes up to Niall sounding extremely confused and slightly annoyed.

He blinks his eyes open slowly, his eyelids feeling as heavy as lead. He moans. He doesn’t think he’s ever been this tired in his life.

“What time is it?” He mumbles into the pillow.

“What time is it? It’s fucking noon, you great lump.” Niall says, and then hits him with a pillow. Liam winces and pushes himself to sit up.

“What do you mean, it’s noon.”

“I mean it’s fucking noon, and our flight for New York leaves in one hour!” Niall says hysterically and hits Liam with a pillow again.

“Why are you freaking out?” Liam asks. “I’m already packed, you know that. I’m always packed.” Liam rubs his eyes sleepily.

“Well apparently you slept through everything, but Harry flew to fucking London last night, Zayn flew ahead to New York, and Louis is still drunk after going out partying last night. Usually we at least have you as the one who has their shit together, but you’re fucking sleeping! I cannot keep everyone together!” Niall says, and then collapses onto Liam’s bed.

“Why did Harry go to London?” Liam asks. He supposes that will be the easiest thing to deal with. He stands up and walks to the bathroom to start brushing his teeth while Niall answers him.

“Dunno. He said he had some stuff to think about. He said he would be back in the morning before our show at the latest.”

“That’s pretty late.” Liam says through a mouthful of wintergreen foam.

“Yeah, but Harry is better adjusted to jetlag than the rest of us.”

“That’s true. What about Zayn, did he say why he went ahead?” Liam tries to sound casual while he still has his toothbrush stuck in his mouth.

“No, but he looked like a wreck. He had these huge bags under his eyes and he kind of looked like he might have been crying, but he also could have been high.”

Liam snorts and ignores the pang of worry in his stomach, and then spits his toothpaste into the sink. “Most people can tell the difference between crying and smoking, Nialler.” He laughs as he packs his toothbrush and toothpaste into his suitcase.

Niall just shrugs. “It was before I ate breakfast.”

Liam laughs again and grabs his suitcase. “Okay, you head down to the van that’s going to take us to the airport, and I’ll go get Louis.”

Niall jumps up. “Sounds like a fair deal.”

Liam rolls his eyes. Dealing with hungover Louis is definitely the short end of the stick, but he doesn’t care that much.

~

By the time they arrive in New York, Louis is ten times grumpier than Liam has ever seen him. Every time someone on the plane so much as whispers, he glares at them until they apologize. Niall bailed and fell asleep an hour into the flight, and Liam has his headphones on but is somehow still getting the occasional glare from Louis.

Niall runs to a van that will take him to the hotel, and won’t let Liam or Louis join him. “Annoying motherfuckers.” He says before the van speeds off. Liam isn’t sure what he’s done wrong, but he supposes just being associated with that plane ride was annoying enough.

Louis gives him a death glare during the entire van ride to the hotel.

Liam finally breaks when they get stuck in New York traffic and the van stops going anywhere. “Have I done something wrong?”

“No.” Louis says, but continues to glare at Liam. He looks kind of like he suspects Liam of doing something wrong. They hold eye contact for five minutes before Liam has to look away. Louis is silent for a while longer, but Liam knows he’s still glaring at him.

“Why is your wrist bandaged.” It’s not a question, it’s a statement. “You haven’t done that in private for years.”

Liam flushes with panic. He always forgets how perceptive Louis is. He starts to frown in worry, and inexplicably, he is afraid he’s about to tear up. “Louis…” He pleads.

“No, Liam, I want to know. You panicked before the show last night, and you wouldn’t even pay attention to anyone on stage besides me. Half of our band packed up and left early. I want to know what’s going on, and I know it has something to do with your tattoo.”

“Technically two people isn’t half the band…” Liam mumbles, eyes darting around the van, trying to avoid the question.

“I’ve let you avoid this for a full twenty-four hours now. Come on, Liam.” Louis’s voice softens, and he reaches over to gently flick Liam’s bicep.

Liam takes a shaky breath. He knows he has to tell Louis, and soon, but he knows that people are always watching them, and trying to get any hint of information about their soulmates.

“I’ll tell you tonight, but not here.”

Louis raises his eyebrows in surprise. “At the hotel?” He asks, and goes back to frowning when Liam shakes his head.

“I’ll tell you in a bar where it’s too loud for anyone to overhear.”

“Why are you so suspicious right now? I thought we convinced you three years ago that people aren’t really trying to find out every detail of your life.”

Liam turns to look out of the window at the New York skyline that is slowly passing by their car. It’s nighttime, so the lights in all the windows of the buildings look beautiful.

“This is something people would care about.” He says blankly, picturing himself as a businessman in one of the skyscrapers. He could wear a suit to work every day, carry a nice briefcase. He could own a dog and take care of it all by himself. He could be with Zayn with no scrutiny- No, he doesn’t even know if he wants that. But he’s supposed to, isn’t he? If they’re soulmates after all, then there’s no question that he should want to be with him.

“Okay.” Louis says, and closes his eyes to nap. He still looks grumpy even while he’s sleeping.

~

They only stay at the hotel long enough to drop off their bags and change into fresh t-shirts before they head off to a club. They ask the driver to take them somewhere loud that they’ve never been to before. Liam doesn’t want to risk anyone even recognizing them tonight.

As soon as they arrive, Liam drags Louis over to the bar and orders a round of shots. He takes his quickly, wincing at the burn. “They’ve got good alcohol here.” He says into Louis’s ear, and Louis rolls his eyes at the inane comment before taking his own shot.

Liam wanders into the middle of the dance floor, and turns around to see Louis has followed him. He starts dancing to their music. They seem to have a pretty decent DJ. Louis lets him dance for a few minutes, and then pulls him back to the side of the bar.

“So, what’s going on?” He has to ask directly into Liam’s ear because it’s so loud, but Liam knows he’s making his pissy face anyways.

Liam’s throat is dry all of the sudden, and he vaguely wishes that he had some water to drink. His eyes wander, looking anywhere but at Louis. Maybe there’s a water fountain somewhere. Surely Louis will let him get some water before telling him this secret.

“Liam.” Louis says sharply, and grabs Liam’s chin in his hand and forces him to look him in the eyes.

Liam closes his eyes into a wince, and leans in so he can whisper directly into Louis’s ear.

“Zayn and I are soulmates.” He says it all in one breath, and then leans back with his eyes scrunched up so he doesn’t have to see Louis’s face.

Louis laughs at first, but cuts himself off after a moment. “You’re not serious, are you?”

Liam opens his eyes, and Louis’s smile fades off his face when he sees Liam’s face. Liam carefully pulls away the fabric around his wrist, and then lifts the bandage beneath it up just a sliver for Louis to peek in.

“What’s the blue line?” Louis asks after staring at Liam’s wrist pensively for a moment. He whispers it directly into Liam’s ear, so no one could overhear him.

Liam’s skin erupts into goosebumps as he remembers Zayn’s fingers carefully penning the line onto his wrist. He looks down at the ground and pretends to draw something in the air, afraid that someone would somehow know what he was talking about.

Louis gasps in realization, no doubt remembering all of the times that Zayn had tried to solve Liam’s maze. “Holy shit.” The club around them seems to slip farther into the distance, like the two of them were the only two people there. Liam took a deep breath, and the noise of the crowd seemed to snap back around him like a rubber band.

He leaned in to Louis’s ear again. “My name appeared on his wrist when he finished it.” He whispers, and he feels the weight of his own fear pressing down on his chest.

Louis puts his hands on Liam’s shoulder and pushes him back to look him in the eyes. “Why did you run?” He asks, but he doesn’t sound like he’s judging Liam, he just wants to understand. Liam is so grateful for his band.

“I don’t know, it’s just so much to handle.” He shrugs, trying not to dislodge Louis’s hands. He’s embarrassed that he’s scared, but he doesn’t know how to stop being scared.

“Well, you it’s not really going to change anything. It’s always been there.” Louis reminds him confidently.

“Are you sure?” Liam feels the bundle of nerves in his stomach loosen slightly for the first time in days. If Louis truly believes everything will be fine, then it probably will be. Louis never liked to lie to them to soften a blow.

“Absolutely.” Louis nods. The club lights illuminate his face in alien green and purple. “Let’s go get your boy.” He grabs Liam’s wrist, and Liam thinks he can feel Louis’s excitement seep into his skin through his hand.

~

Liam doesn’t feel nervous on the drive back to the hotel. It’s like some part of him knows that everything is going to be fine, that Zayn will always forgive him because they are soulmates. The hallway of the hotel is as eerily silent as they always are, the maroon carpet muffling even the sound of their footsteps.

He stops outside Zayn’s room, 513, and takes a deep breath. Louis pats him sharply on the back.

“You can do it.” Louis whispers into his ear, and then his warmth fades away into the hallway as he heads back to his own room.

Liam raises his fist and knocks firmly on the white wood of the door before his confidence fades away. He can’t hear anything inside the room, and he nervously raises his hand to knock again when the door opens suddenly in front of him.

Zayn - his Zayn – is standing before him in just his boxers, and Liam isn’t sure he’s ever felt so much at once. Zayn blinks sleepily at him and runs a hand through his hair.

“Liam?” He asks, confused. Liam laughs softly when he remembers that it’s the middle of the night.

“Hi.” He replies, suddenly shy. “Can I come in?”

Zayn seems to wake up a bit at that, his eyes opening wider. “Yeah, sorry, of course.” He pulls the door open wider to let Liam in and then closes it behind them.

Liam walks over to the bed and sits down at the foot where the white comforter is still unruffled. He wonders for a moment if he should feel more awkward considering how distant he’s been the past few days, but he doesn’t see why he should force himself to be uncomfortable.

Zayn stands in front of him for a moment, arms crossed and clearly feeling the discomfort that Liam lacks. Liam pats the bed next to him, and Zayn visibly relaxes before sitting down next to him.

“So.” Zayn says, staring down at his hands. He scratches at his Bus 1 tattoo, not looking Liam in the eyes.

“I love you.” Liam announces boldly. He wasn’t planning on saying it, and he didn’t know how true it was until he said it, but something felt like it clicked into place once he did.

Zayn’s head snaps up to look at him, dark eyes glistening in the dim light of the hotel room. Liam can’t read the expression on his face, but he knows that Zayn will be able to see the truth on his face.

“I’ve always loved you.” Zayn replies carefully, like he’s scared Liam will run off again.

Liam feels a smile grow on his face, and he laughs softly at the happiness that is bubbling through his body. “Should we have known before now?”

“No, I don’t think so.” Zayn answers thoughtfully. “I think that was the point of our marks, was that we needed to wait before we knew for sure.”

Liam smiles even wider. “That’s very romantic.” He pokes Zayn in the side and laughs at the fake glare that Zayn gives him”

Zayn smiles shyly and looks back down at his hands. “I’m glad it was you. I always wanted it to be you, but I was so afraid.”

“Me too.” Liam sobers. He reaches over to twine his hand together with Zayn’s and squeezes.

“Why did you run?” Zayn asks quietly, but he squeezes Liam’s hand as if to let him know that he’s not angry.

“I don’t know, I guess I was just scared that I was wrong. I was so sure for so long that it couldn’t be you, because I thought I would have already known.” Liam’s chest feels heavy when he remembers the hopelessness that he felt every time he compared their marks.

Zayn reaches over and squeezes Liam’s hand in his own. “I think that maybe,” he pauses and tilts his head thoughtfully, “we had to wait before we were really – soulmates.” He speaks the word reverently.

“You mean like… you weren’t really my soulmate until you solved my maze?” Liam grins at the thought. “It’s kind of like you had to go on a quest to earn my love.”

Zayn rolls his eyes, but Liam can see the smile at the corner of his mouth. Zayn leans over and bumps their shoulders together. “You’re a dork.”

“I’m your dork.” Liam beams widely at Zayn.

He expects Zayn to roll his eyes at him again but instead Zayn just smiles and softly whispers “yeah.”

~

The next morning, they call a band meeting in Zayn’s hotel room. Liam doesn’t bother getting out of the bed that they obviously shared, since they’re all going to know within a few minutes anyways.

Louis walks in first, half asleep and only wearing a white tee shirt and a pair of sweatpants that both have holes in them. He curls up in the armchair in the corner and immediately falls asleep. Liam stifles a laugh because he knows that it will only make Louis’s mood worse.

“What’s happening?” Harry asks as he throws open the hotel room door. He’s holding a half-empty (half full?) cup of a green smoothie, and his hair is pinned back against his head with bright pink clips.

Niall is only a step behind him, wearing a red polo that echoes the Up All Night days and a concerned frown so deep that Liam is afraid his face will get stuck.

“We called a band meeting.” Zayn announces inanely from his perch against the wall by the bathroom door. He claimed that it would be better if they weren’t both sitting on the bed at the beginning, but Liam knew that Zayn was really just too nervous to sit still.

“Yeah, no shit.” Louis replies with his eyes still closed.

Harry looks over at the armchair in alarm before realizing that it’s just Louis. “I thought we made it a rule that everyone has to be awake for band meetings.”

“I’m awake, Harold. My eyes are just closed.” Louis sniffs condescendingly.

Harry sighs as if he’s dealing with a petulant child and looks over at Liam pleadingly. Normally Liam would side with Harry but he really needs Louis on his side for this so he just shrugs.

“Why did you call a band meeting?” Niall asks patiently. He’s looking at Zayn very attentively.

“Uh… Well-“ Zayn is clearly taken aback by Niall’s directness.

Liam suddenly can’t take the tension in the room anymore and he bursts out into laughter. The others all stare at him in shock, and their wide eyes and open mouths make Liam laugh even harder.

“What’s wrong with him?” Niall asks Zayn, and this makes Liam guffaw so hard that he hiccups. Of course Niall would trust Zayn with that question. Of course Zayn would know. Of course Zayn had been his soulmate all along.

He takes a deep breath to calm himself, but it catches in his lungs when he sees the way that Zayn is staring at him. The soft smile on Zayn’s face makes him feel like everything is okay in the world. He smiles softly back at Zayn. Liam’s cheeks are still warm from his laughing fit and his eyes are watering a bit but the happy hum that spreads through his body from Zayn’s smile doesn’t slow.

“Oh.” Harry states like he has just realized a fundamental truth of the universe. Liam had forgotten that the rest of them were even there. He turns to look at Harry, and Harry’s eyebrows are both raised in mock condescension as he sips his smoothie.

“What?” Liam asks, confused.

“It’s like that.” Harry replies around his straw.

“It’s like what?” Niall jumps in. He’s looking between the two of them completely lost.

“Liam and Zayn are soulmates.” Louis says from the armchair.

“Oh.” Niall’s face softens, and then crumples into confusion again. “Wait, I thought we already knew that.”

“No, it’s confirmed now.” Liam stares daggers at Louis, trying to get him to stop talking. Louis opens his eyes and beams when he sees the look Liam is giving him. “Zayn solved the puzzle on Liam’s wrist, and then it became permanent and Liam’s name showed up on Zayn’s wrist.”

Harry and Niall whip their heads around to stare at Zayn, whose cheeks are flushing pink. He turns his wrist to show them, and they both gasp. Niall’s mouth falls open in shock, but Harry has that look on his face like the one when he forces them all to watch romantic comedies together.

Liam feels another smile creep onto his face.

“Awwwwww.” Harry coos. “Group hug time!” He announces and spreads his arms wide.

Liam laughs happily. He crawls out of the bed and pulls Louis out of the armchair. He smiles at Zayn across the circle, and his heart flutters when Zayn smiles back at him. The five of them stand together in the hotel room with their arms all wrapped around each other, and their hearts all beating together. Liam knows now that fate brought all five of them together, not just him and Zayn, and everything feels right in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this, consider buying me a coffee at http://ko-fi.com/yesmazz !


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